Southwest Florida tides are mysterious things. They come in and go out in odd patterns, with as many as five a day or as few as one. Low tide may occur an hour after high tide and be recorded at the same height, then the water may flood in and get 18 inches higher in a few hours.

It may seem like multiple personality disorder, but our strange tides are really just the result of the shape of the Gulf of Mexico. See, on the open Atlantic coast, you have one high tide and one low tide in a 24-hour period. These are called diurnal tides. In other places, there are two high and two low tides. These are semidiurnal tides. So far, so good.